'How To Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World' Review

Nominated For: Best Animated Feature.

Synopsis: Now chief and ruler of Berk alongside Astrid, Hiccup has created a gloriously chaotic dragon utopia. When the sudden appearance of a female Light Fury coincides with the darkest threat their village has ever faced, Hiccup and Toothless must leave the only home they've ever known and journey to a hidden world thought only to exist in myth. As their true destinies are revealed, dragon and rider will fight together to protect everything they've grown to treasure.

Runtime: 104 minutes

MPAA Rating: PG (for adventure action and some mild rude humor)

Who should see it? Appropriate for all ages, though parents should be forewarned that the question "where do babies come from?" may possibly arise in conversation afterward. Up to you how you'd like to address that.

Written and directed by Dean DeBlois, How To Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World concludes the feature-length animated How To Train Your Dragon trilogy based on Cressida Cowell's best-selling children's books. I'm still unsure why The Hidden World broke the series' naming convention, opting for a subtitle instead of "3," but I digress. Subtitle aside, I've eagerly awaited this franchise finale just as much as the many others yet to come this year (i.e., Star Wars: Episode IX, Avengers: Endgame, and Game of Thrones Season 8 to name a few). In the nine years since the release of the original How To Train Your Dragon, I've watched this series with great interest and the first two rank among my favorite animation ever made, so there was plenty of pressure for The Hidden World to be a terrific trilogy capper.

Narratively, DeBlois brings everything full circle with countless callbacks to the previous two entries while continuing to align the respective journeys of Toothless and Hiccup as corresponding arcs. In this third and final chapter, Hiccup's prowess as a leader, companion, and warrior are challenged like never before by an elusive and mysterious dragon hunter named Grimmel plus the prospects of losing Berk, his friends, and his treasured dragon companion above all. Two prior films have cemented how much Hiccup values his home, family, and Toothless, but as this story reaches its conclusion, an interesting notion is suggested. Can human and dragon-kind truly live in harmony? Though their societies integrated effectively, Berk has since been targeted for their dragons. This is one of many dilemmas Hiccup must face as everything draws to a close and the emotional driving force behind the film's bittersweet finale. Like Toy Story 3, The Hidden World offers a poignant resolution which will leave longtime series viewers very teary-eyed.

Of course, the animation is once again exquisite. The Hidden World is full of visual splendor from start-to-finish, and the careful attention to lighting, color, and detail yields breathtaking results. I failed to mention this in my other How To Train Your Dragon reviews, but celebrated cinematographer Roger Deakins was a visual consultant throughout the trilogy, and his contributions were certainly invaluable. As for another indispensable asset, John Powell scored all three films to tremendous effect. Here, Powell's accompaniment retains the series' sense of warmth, whimsy, and wonder. 

Something I haven't addressed yet is Toothless' budding relationship with a Light Fury. Their interactions are quite endearing, and Toothless' attempts to woo her are utterly hysterical...which brings me to The Hidden World's shortcomings. Of the trilogy, The Hidden World addresses the most mature thematic ground, but there's a lot of childish antics throughout. I don't mind efforts to appease children every now and then through comic relief because families ultimately are the core demographic Dreamworks is striving to reach. However, these jokes are often employed at the expense of the grander narrative, and I couldn't help but feel the film would have been better without some of them. To be frank, this complaint has nothing with Toothless but actually involves supporting human characters. 

Carrying over from the previous films, Jay Baruchel, America Ferrera, Cate Blanchett, Gerard Butler, Craig Ferguson, Kit Harington, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Jonah Hill, and Kristen Wiig reprise their roles while Justin Rupple replaced T.J. Miller as Tuffnut due to negative publicity surrounding Miller on the basis of sexual assault allegations and a false bomb report. The entire cast exhibited exemplary voice work, but Jay Baruchel and America Ferrera have the most substantial material to work with. Meanwhile, the bond between Hiccup and Toothless is as endearing as ever.

In the antagonistic camp, F. Murray Abraham's Grimmel proves to be a worthy adversary. I especially appreciated how he was such a calculated tactician, always one step ahead of everyone. He's fearsome in combat, but the threat he poses in the long term is far greater than the immediate danger. On top of that, his diabolical plot jeopardizes everything Hiccup holds dear, so he pushes Hiccup to his limits in a game of cat and mouse. 

All in all, Hiccup and Toothless' final theatrical outing held the gravitas, emotional heft, and high-flying adventure I'd hoped to see. How To Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World is a satisfying series conclusion which grants its characters a special send-off. Sufficed to say, the How To Train Your Dragon trilogy has earned its place alongside the greatest cinematic trilogies. Now Dreamworks, no matter how financially successful The Hidden World proves to be, please don't compromise this perfect ending with a fourth installment. As Paul McCartney sang, let it be. 

Film Assessment: A

'Isle of Dogs' Review

Nominated For: Best Animated Feature and Best Original Score.

In the near future (twenty years from now), snout fever (aka "dog flu") ravages the canine population of Megasaki City. By executive decree of Mayor Kobayashi, all dogs are hereby banished to a gargantuan garbage-dump otherwise referred to as Trash Island. Isle of Dogs then follows a determined twelve-year-old boy named Atari as he hijacks a miniature plane and flies across the river in search of his bodyguard-dog, Spots. Once he crashes on Trash Island, a pack of mangy mutts join him on his epic odyssey to find and rescue his long lost friend. 

Isle of Dogs is the ninth feature length film to be written and directed by the idiosyncratic Wes Anderson. If you've ever seen a Wes Anderson production, you have a clear idea of what you should expect from an acclaimed auteur of his pedigree. There will be whip pans, symmetric shot composition, an obsessive attention to detail, colorful settings, obscure older music, quirky characters, and abundant instances of offbeat humor. Of course, all of these elements can be found within Isle of Dogs since the film champions Anderson's unique, eccentric style as its most defining attribute.

If you're a fan of Anderson's work, you'll likely be drawn to see Isle of Dogs because it's the distinctive director's return to stop-motion animation after his first foray utilizing the medium in 2009, Fantastic Mr. Fox. His obsessive-compulsive nature as a filmmaker simply means he's suited to deal with stop-motion because the process is absurdly tedious and requires an incredible attention-to-detail. In order for the models to move with an authentic fluidity, animators have to continually adjust puppets with the slightest alterations between individual photographed frames. It's truly a testament to the ability of these animators that I often forgot I was watching stop-motion because there was such a lifelike look to it all. It's really remarkable, and I'd consider it to be among the finest stop-motion animation I've ever seen on film. 

Like any other Wes Anderson production, the art direction, production design, cinematography, and score are all exceptionally executed as can be expected. Stylistically, the film pays homage to the traditional Japanese epic, and Japan in general, in so many ways. Tristan Oliver's cinematography excellently communicated a sense of scale and intimacy/aggression (depending on the scene's context) while sticking to the symmetrical shot composition characteristic of all Anderson's work. All the while, the film is immensely energized by the beat of Alexandre Desplat's percussive score that stands out as a unique addition to the two-time Oscar winning composer's resume. 

Meanwhile, the film is facing some online controversy of cultural appropriation... I'm not quite sure what exactly is being interpreted as such, but I didn't think there was anything in the film that could be construed as offensive. Perhaps I'm not "woke" enough to understand it, but I believe these claims are grossly over-exaggerated. If you see the film and think otherwise, feel free to let me know what I'm missing. I'd actually say Anderson does a great deal to honor Japanese culture by casting ethnically appropriate actors for the Japanese human roles, homaging Japanese cinema, art, and architecture, and incorporating elements of cultural significance. That's not even to mention the fact that Anderson made the stylistic choice for all the Japanese characters to speak in Japanese throughout the entire film. 

A title card appears in the beginning to inform the audience in addition to letting everyone know there won't be subtitles either. Fortunately, the dog barks have been translated to English and an interpreter and outside narrator are incorporated for occasional English translations. I'm sure this will be met with a divisive reaction from American audiences because we'd like to understand everything. I felt the decision paid off for the most part, but it admittedly impaired the narrative from as I found it difficult to completely connect with characters I didn't always understand. Although I respect Anderson's commitment to the concept, subtitles would have been immensely beneficial.

While I appreciated the broad overarching themes regarding the canine breed's celebrated characteristics of bravery, loyalty, and unconditional love, the film's storytelling is a little ruff (pun intended). This isn't to say film's story is entirely problematic, but rather to note it stands out as superficial when compared to Anderson's other work. The film relies heavily of the whimsical charm of these junkyard dogs cracking quips in deadpan, which worked wonders by the way. Otherwise, it's as if Anderson is holding audiences at an arm's distance from the human characters due to the aforementioned decision not to translate all the Japanese dialogue. There's enough expression for audiences to pick up on distinctive personalities, but they simply weren't fleshed out or developed as much as I'd have liked. 

Isle of Dogs does however feature an especially distinguished cast composed of Bryan Cranston, Scarlett Johansson, Francis McDormand, Greta Gerwig, Liev Schreiber, Kunichi Nomura, Koyu Rankin, Ken Watanabe, and common Anderson collaborators such as Bill Murray, Edward Norton, Jeff Goldblum, Bob Balaban, F. Murray Abraham, and Tilda Swinton voicing an assortment of humans and hounds. To discuss them all individually would be a logistical nightmare, but do know that each actor added a great deal of charm and lent themselves well to their respective roles. Cranston is undoubtedly the standout as the surly stray alpha dog, Chief, and I have to say Koyu Rankin did remarkably well for his first role in a feature film in spite of the Japanese language barrier I brought up earlier. 

Before I wrap things up, I suppose I ought to mention that adults will have more to take away from Isle of Dogs than children. I realize the appeal of cute dogs and a young protagonist might make it appear to be made with children in mind, but that couldn't be further from the truth. There's not really much in the way of inappropriate humor, but the comedy is dark on occasion and the story itself is fairly mature. Significant portions of the film also move at a slower pace that I can't really envision kids enjoying, especially when the humor will fly over their heads. One other thing well worth mentioning is that you may look to see where you can watch Isle of Dogs after reading this review to learn it may not be playing at a theater near you just yet. That is because the film's had an especially limited release roll-out from Fox Searchlight. They'll be expanding in the coming weeks, but I'm unsure when the wide release date is. I was fortunate enough to attend an advanced screening of the film though and wanted to share a review regardless of that.

I may not consider Isle of Dogs to be one of my favorite films from Wes Anderson, but Anderson sure is one sly dog, because I can't dispute the fact I left the theater with my tail wagging (metaphorically, of course). It's taken three months, but Anderson's given audiences the first animated feature worth barking about this year!

Film Assessment: B+